Page 5 of Highland Wishes And Dreams
She ignored Finn and mounted Legion, determined to enjoy the ride home. She had much to do this afternoon. The christening to organize, Jake’s christening gown to complete. Wen had embroidered the gown herself and Galina needed to ensure it was ready for tomorrow.
Finn walked his horse to stand next to her. “Not in the mood for teasing I see.”
She shook her head.
“No. I suspect it’s not been an easy two months. You could have written to me. I would have come sooner.”
“You were dealing with your own grief and I knew the christening was coming. I had hoped to get through to Andrew by then, but I could not.” She had not known how to help her brother.
“Andrew just needs time.”
Finn’s eyes filled with sorrow. She nodded. “I’m just thankful that he is taking an interest in Jake.”
“Aye. That is a very good sign.” Finn sat silently obviously deep in thought. “There is one thing that I may need your help with.”
She looked up. “Anything.”
“Wen’s ring.” Galina held her breath. “Mother wants it returned.”
Galina knew all about Wen’s stunning emerald ring. The pair had talked about it many a night by the fire. Wen thought it held special powers, and in return Galina brought Wen to this glen and told her about the Fae. It was their secret. Wen told her she had wished on the ring that Galina would marry Finn so that they would be sisters. That had not come true and now Wen was gone.
“I’m sure Andrew has the ring safe.”
Finn’s lips thinned. “Before I came here, I had written to Andrew requesting the return of the ring as per the marriage contract, and Andrew said no.”
“This is between you and Andrew.”
Finn’s blue eyes searched her face. “I would like you to be there when I ask for it once again. I’m hoping that will help.” Then he rubbed a hand over his face. “Is there a reason why Andrew would want to hold on to it? Something I don’t realize. It might help me broach the subject if I knew why he refused.”
Galina swallowed back a reply. She knew why. Wen had given the ring to Andrew before they wed. She told him it was her keepsake for their daughter, and that as long as he had it, she would stay in his heart forever. He wore it on a chain around his neck. I don’t think either of them realized how short a life together they would have. She knew deep in her bones Andrew would never part with it.
And if Finn could not understand, this would tear their families apart. She would perhaps never see Finn again.
She kicked her heels and Legion began to walk out of the glen and Finn followed. She gathered her courage with her reins and asked, “May I understand why it is so important that the ring be returned?”
“That’s fair. The ring is a five-hundred-year old heirloom on my mother’s side. It is supposed to be handed down from mother to eldest daughter. On Wen’s death it was supposed to go to her daughter, if she had no daughter, to Emily, or Emily’s daughter. Mother is distraught at losing Wen, so is insisting the ring must go to Emily. She doesn’t wish to be the first mother to forsake tradition. She feels it’s a bad omen.”
Bad omen? The bad omen had already occurred. Galina thought the ring hadn’t helped Wen. Did Emily even want it? But she understood how Lady Stuart was feeling. But she also understood Andrew’s attachment. She felt trapped in a feud not of her making but one that could affect her life significantly.
“So, tell me. Why would Andrew be so attached to this ring?”
Because it was Wen’s, silly. “I have no idea.” The lie slipped out before she could even think. All she knew was she had to have time to think through this situation. Perhaps Andrew, now that he was at least joining the land of the living, might change his mind and give it back. As she urged Legion into a canter, she knew Andrew would never part with the ring.
* * *
She was lying.There was something Galina was not telling him, and for the first time he questioned if he really knew her. He didn’t really. He’d kept his distance knowing she was Wen and Emily’s best friend and Andrew’s sister. She’d simply been someone who had always been in their lives.
As he watched her ride ahead of him, it suddenly struck him that Galina was no longer a young girl. She was a woman. She was the same age as Wen and Emily but as yet unmarried. Why was she not wed?
She was the daughter of an Earl, with a considerable dowry. She should have had plenty of offers. But add to that, she was a bonny lass. Tall and slender, she skipped through life like a deer in the forests at the back of the estate. Quiet, and cautious, but full of fun, when she felt safe with those around her. She’d been painfully shy as a young girl. When she came to stay with the twins, every time he smiled or talked to her, she’d flushed bright red. Andrew had teased him that she was infatuated with him, but he’d brushed that aside. He was the only boy she saw on a regular basis.
As a man he could appreciate all her assets but he thought of her more as a sister than as a woman. He didn’t have lustful thoughts when he saw her. Was that because of Andrew and their friendship?
He watched her as she stood up in the stirrups to take the hedge in front of them and suddenly, he was fixated on the nice round bottom pointing his way. A wave of heat hit him. In a flash he imagined what Galina looked like underneath her riding attire and his thoughts were certainly not sisterly in nature.
He shook his head and almost came off his stallion as he too followed her over the hedge. When she turned her head to grin at him, lightning may as well have struck him, because all of a sudden, those lips were a temptation. His mind whirled with sensual thoughts. What would Galina taste like? Would her skin be as silky soft as he imagined? Would her curves cushion him? Would her pert breasts fill his hands, his mouth?
Why had he never noticed what a beautiful woman she had become? Wen had told him years ago that he would wed Galina, and he’d scoffed. At the memory of Wen his lustful thoughts disappeared. How could he be thinking of romantic notions when his sister was barely in her grave?
